Welder&#39;s eyeshield



March 11,1952 A. MGWETHY WELDER'S EYESHIELID Filed May 17, 1948INVENTOR. ARTHUR MEWETHY ATTORNEY5 Patented Mar. 11, 1952 WELDEBSEYESHIELD Arthur McWethy, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Application May 17, 1948, Serial No. 27,562

3 Claims.

This invention relates toa novel eye shield for electric welding whichis worn on the head of theoperator and which maybe operated to lift theeye shield to an upper position above the eyes of the user, or returnedto its operative position for the protection of'the users eyes, suchlifting and return of the eye shield being effected by a downwardmovement of the lower jaw of an operator who has the device secured toand carried on his. head.

The device which embodies the invention is of a very practical,relatively simple and economical construction. It may be fitted to thehead of a user by a simple adjustment of a strap passing around at theback of the head and by a chin strap passing underneath the chin. Whenthe immediate eye protecting shield members, in practice, goggles, arelifted above the eyes, it is done by'a .downward movement of the chinand the parts'thus lifted are held in their upper position by a yieldingcatch. To lower the eye protecting members to a position directly infront of the eyes, it is also done by a downward and more rapid orstronger movement of the chin to further lift the eye protectingmembers, followed by a quick or sharp upward movement of the lower jawwhich permits an automatic disconnection with the latching means and alowering of 'the eye shielding parts or members of the structure,through gravity, to their operative position. The structure used is of aprac- "tical, simple and novel type, readily manufactured and assembled,with a consequent economy of'production.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of thewelders eye shield of my invention,indicatedas applied to the head of theuser and with the parts inoperative position,

Fig, 2 is a similar elevation of the upper portion thereof with theimmediate eye shield raised and held 'by its yielding latches in upperposition, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the latching means used and anindication of the manner in which the unlatchingis performed to returntheeye shield to lower operative position.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in thediiferentfiguresof'the drawing.

In the construction illustrated, a band I is provided which in use isdesigned to pass across the forehead of the user and back to each sidethereof to substantially immediately above the ears. circular formisconnected at'its ends to the band i at points substantially above theears when applied, and passes across the top of the head from one sidethereof to the other. An arcshaped band 3, substantially a quadrant, isper manently secured at its upper end midway be tween the ends of theband 2 and extends downwardly to and is secured at its lower end at thefront of the forehead, substantially midway between the ends of the bandI. An adjustable back.

strap 4 is provided to extend around at the back of the head andconnects the ends of the band i, one at least of which is slotted,asshown in Fig. 1, for the band 4 to pass therethrough and turn backover itself for connection and association with a buckle 5, foradjusting the length of the band 3. Such adjusting of a band or'strap.connection in itself is conventional and need not be further described.

The band I at each side of the head, when applied thereto, has anattachedupwardly extending relatively large ear 6, on each of which alever arm I of the form shown is pivotally connected by a pivot 8. Theparts 6 are substantially located, when the device is applied in use,above the ears of the user, and generally in a mid-position between thefront and rear of the head of the user, the pivots 8 being substantiallyat the same positions. The arms or levers l extend downwardly from thepivots 8 and then. forwardly, one at each side of the head, and betweenthem are mounted the immediate eye shields, substantially in the form ofgoggles 9, which carry suitable dangerous light' ray obstructing orabsorbing lenses. The immediate eye shields or goggles 9 are adjustableon the armsorlevers l by ineans of screw and slot connections shown atl0,so that the goggles may be moved in or out for the best position inconnection with the particularuser;

At the tinner end of each arm 1 a projecting dog I i is integrallyformed. It is associated with a yielding spring catch I2 of the form andshape shown, which may be adjusted toward or away from the dog I i andheld in proper adjustment by the adjusting screw 53, one of which ismounted at each of the sides of the band I.

A flat bar 54 located in a generally vertical position'is pivotallymounted at its upper end "at ifi'betweeneach of the pivots'8 and the"adjacent or associated dog ll. The bar I4 extends downwardly and isguided in suitable guide tongues I6, a pair of which is on each side ofthe band I. The bars [4 extend below the lower edges of the band. A chinstrap I1 is connected to and extends be- A band 2 of an invertedgenerally semitween the lower ends of the two bars I4 and is adjustableas to length, using the conventional buckle shown at l 8 for adjustmentpurposes.

The apparatus may be fitted to the head of the user, as indicated inFig. 1, the straps 4 and I1 being properly adjusted and the goggles 9adjusted on the arms I, so that when the goggles are directly in frontof the eyes of the user, the upper end of the spring latch I2 issubstantially against the lower rounded corner edge of its associateddog II. In this position the user may do the work of electric or similarweldin and have his eyes protected against dangerous or eye damaginglight rays which come from the welding arcs. By moving the lower jawdown, a pull is put upon the strap l1 which moves the bars I4 lengthwisein a downward direction in their guides 16 and turns the arms 1 and thegoggles carried thereby about the pivots 8 to the position shown in Fig.2, the dogs I l riding against and underneath the spring latches I2which serve to hold goggles in their upper position.

With the goggles and arm 7 in the upper position in Fig. 2, loweringthem to the operative position of Fig. 1 is by a downward movement ofthe lower jaw of the wearer, but of a greater extent to thus move thearm 1 to a position such as that indicated in dash lines in Fig. 3,wherein the dogs H are moved below the upper holding portions of thelatches I2. Then the lower jaw is moved quickly upward. When thisoccurs, the weight of the goggles under the momentum which they atmm infreely falling until the dogs I strike against the latches I2, issufficient to sprin said latches rearwardly and let the dogs ll pass bythe latches and disengage therefrom, the goggles being stopped inoperative position covering the eyes of the user. Of course, it is alsopossible to move the goggles downwardly by manual force applied thereto.But in any case when both hands of the wearer are engaged, there is aready and immediate return of the goggles from upper inoperative to thelower operative position by the chin or jaw operation of the strap ll asdescribed.

The construction described is of a simple, economical form, readilymanufactured and assembled, of light weight and easily adjusted to thehead of a user. A very practical, economically manufactured and usefuleye shield for use in welding, either electric, acetylene or otherwelding where dangerous or eye damaging light rays are steadilyproduced, is provided by my invention.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be consideredcomprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. A structure of the class described comprising, a substantiallycircular band adapted to encircle the head of a person, a supportingloop having its respective ends attached to said band at substantiallydiametrically opposite locations at the sides of the head and adapted toextend over the top of the head of the person, a pair of arms eachpivotally mounted on opposite sides of said band at points close to theconnections of the loop to the band, a goggle unit extending between thefront end portions of said arms and a strap adapted to extend under thechin of the person and having its respective ends connected with 7 eachof said arms rearwardly of their pivots and substantially in alignmentwith said supporting loop.

2. A structure of the class described comprising, a substantiallycircular band adapted to encircle the head of a person, a supportingloop having its ends attached to said band at substantiallydiametrically opposite locations at the sides of the head and adapted toextend over the top of the head of the person substantially centrallythereof, a pair of arms pivotally mounted at points close to theconnections of the loop to the band, one at each side of the band, eachof said arms having a portion extending back of the pivot, a goggle unitcarried by and extending between the front end portions of said arms,generally vertical links pivotally connected, one to each of said arms,back of the pivot thereof, guide means on the band, one for each of saidlinks through which said links slidably extend downwardly from saidpivots, and a strap adapted to extend under the chin of the personhaving its ends connected with the lower ends of said links, said strapbeing substantially in alignment with said supporting loop.

3. A structure of the class described comprising, a substantiallycircular band adapted to encircle the head of a person, a supportingloop having its ends attached to said band at substantiallydiametrically opposite locations at the sides of the head and adapted toextend over the top of the head of the person substantially centrallythereof, a pair of arms pivotally mounted at points close to connectionsof the loop to the band, one at each side of the band, each of said armshaving a portion extending back of the pivot, a goggle unit carried byand extending between the front end portions of said arms, generallyvertical links pivotally connected, one to each of said arms, back ofthe pivot thereof, guide means on the band, one for each of said linksthrough which said links slidably extend downwardly from said pivots, astrap adapted to extend under the chin of the person having its endsconnected with the lower ends of said links, said strap beingsubstantially in alignment with the said supporting loop, and a springfriction latch secured to the band at a side thereof and extendingupwardly of the adjacent arm back of the pivotal connection of theadjacent link, said arm having a shoulder with which said latch isadapted to engage when the arms and goggle element carried thereby areelevated to upper position.

ARTHUR McWETI-IY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,079,287 Bruzaud Nov. 18, 19131,793,286 Johnston Feb. 17, 1931 2,187,542 Hagen Jan. 16, 1940 2,187,932Cornell Jan.- 23,1940 2,212,014 Doyle Aug. 20, 1940 2,487,183 Rohlf Nov.8, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 537,469 Germany Nov. 3, 1931

